Anthony Edwards is the funniest player in the NBA.
His latest Adidas commercial, which comes just weeks after a video of him rapping “we don’t f*** with Nike” went viral, solidifies this claim for me. The 2-minute ad opens with Ant as a talk show host being introduced as “your favorite hooper’s favorite hooper.” He starts his monologue by roasting LeBron James' age, hair, and new teammate.
"Speaking of old school, you see where big dog ended up? He was gon' join me in Minnesota, but I guess his knees couldn't handle the cold weather. We know why he really made that decision. Philly got some of the best barbers in the world. Between him and ol' boy from Boston, they gonna have a while lotta enhancements."
If you didn’t get the “ol’ boy” joke, then watch this hilarious video of Jaylen Brown calling LeBron.
The jokes then targeted new teammate LaMelo Ball, who recently settled a lawsuit that claimed Ball drove over an 11-year-old’s foot.
"They brought my twin to the Twin Cities. We've been working out together and doing all types of things. But one thing we ain't doing is carpooling if he's driving.”
(According to Lonzo Ball, that won’t be an issue since LaMelo recently hired a driver)
Jalen Brunson was the next victim of the roast.
"If you on the court against me, anybody can get it. Even your daddy. I don't care if he your assistant coach.”
The ad ends with him saying, "When I lace these up, it's over for all y'all. Especially you know who."
That “who” is most likely Shai or Wemby and this wasn’t the first time Ant trolled those two.
ANTHONY EDWARDS VS EVERYBODY (2026)
Earlier this year, Adidas released an ad showing Ant playing a video game against characters resembling Shai, Wemby, Giannis, Jokic, and Luka. For the Shai character, it said his favorite accessory was a “Whistle” while a ref stood behind him. The Wemby character looked like those tall balloon figures outside of car dealerships and said his “Swag” attribute was a 0.
Ant’s ads with Adidas have old heads like me feeling nostalgic for the 90s, when shoe companies were consistently putting out creative, funny, and cinematic-looking ads with NBA players. Many were directed by future filmmakers like Michael Bay and David Fincher. Many of them also weren’t afraid to take shots or poke fun at other athletes. This trip down memory lane had me thinking about my favorite disses, roasts, and trash talk in NBA commercials. Here are a few of my favorites.
CHRIS WEBBER DUNKS ON BARKLEY | BARKLEY’S REVENGE (1994)
The highlight of Chris Webber’s Rookie Of The Year campaign was when he dunked on his favorite player, Charles Barkley. The dunk was so good that Nike made a commercial about the poster. In it, Webber tells teammate Latrell Sprewell that he told Barkley, “I don’t believe in role models, but you mine,” after dunking on him.
Barkley was so annoyed by the ad that he called Nike and said, “Y’all are going to get Chris Webber killed out here!” A few months later, Barkley did just that in the NBA Playoffs. In Game 3 against Webber and the Warriors, he scored a career-high 56 points (27 in the 1st quarter).
BARKLEY’S TALK SHOW (1993)
Long before Ant played a talk show host in a commercial, Barkley played one in a Nike ad with Digital Underground’s Humpty Hump as a co-host. In the best one, Barkley goes through a list of the most stupid nicknames in the league: Harold Miner’s Baby Jordan, Anfernee Hardaway’s Penny, Scottie Pippen’s Pip, and David Robinson’s The Admiral. It ends by mentioning Barkley’s nickname was The Round Mound Of Rebound.
SHAQ VS LITTLE PENNY (1996)
In 1996, Shaq and Penny were two of the league's biggest young stars. They were also both trying to be the man on the same team. Shaq made that clear in his Reebok ad called “This is my planet,” which ends with him knocking a bootleg Lil’ Penny doll off his couch.
Shaq said Penny didn’t talk to him for a week after the ad aired. A few months after that, Shaq didn’t tell Penny he was signing with the Lakers.
VINCE CARTER VS ALONZO MOURNING (2005)
Vince’s best dunk in the NBA is probably his 2005 poster in Miami on Zo. I have to mention 2005 because he’s dunked on Zo five times during their career. But it was his 2005 one that appeared in a Nike commercial called SLAM (featuring the Onynx classic) that pissed off Nike athlete Zo so much that he didn’t talk to Vince for 5 years. Zo denied the story. Vince said, “I have no reason to lie.”
AND 1 VS THE NBA
It might be hard to believe, but during the And 1 streetball phenomenon of the early 00s, the top players on the streetball team were more popular than 90% of NBA players. During this time, And1 released a series of commercials with their players calling out NBA ones with lines like, “When you come into the hood, things change.” In another, they bleep out the name of an NBA player who supposedly got schooled at Rucker. Rumor was that player was Jerry Stackhouse, but I’ve never found any proof of this.
WEAPONS & LARRY BIRD RAPPING (1986)
On a lighter note, one of the most memorable NBA commercials of the 80s was this 1986 Converse Weapons ad with Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Kevin McHale, Mark Aguirre, and Bernard King rapping. The commercial ends with Larry Bird popping up and saying, “I walked away with the MVP.” And he did it for three consecutive years (King and Magic were the runner-ups during two of them).
NO RINGS (2014)
In 2014, a second-year Damian Lillard appeared in a Foot Locker commercial with a bunch of championship-less stars like Chris Webber, Barry Sanders and LaDainian Tomlinson. While talking on the phone, Dame offends the group when he says, “The last thing I want to be is one of those guys who never won a ring.” He then corrects himself and says, “I meant one of those legends that kept losing in the Finals over and over.” The camera then cuts to Karl Malone.
The commercial remains hilarious, but I don’t think year 14 Dame agrees.
NBA PLAYERS HAVE SHORT MEMORY (2014)
Foot Locker released another funny ad in 2014 with James Harden asking Charles Barkley for advice. Barkley tells him that “all of the greats have short memory,” so they don’t remember things such as bad games or nicknames. The camera then pans to Scottie Pippen, who says, “I sure do, and I’m the greatest Chicago Bull of all-time.”
At the time, we thought he was joking.
PIPPEN STILL HATES JORDAN (2026)
Ever since THE LAST DANCE premiered during the pandemic, Scottie Pippen has been taking shots at Michael Jordan. The most recent came during a Mr. Pibb commercial where Pip says, “When something has been considered second best for so long, we just blindly accept it as gospel. Yeah, I said it, Pip is the GOAT.”